Third World & Disaster Communication

[Mark]

I really love your channel. We seem to be working on a parallel timeline in getting the L-band Outernet station up and running. The "stuff" should be here from Amazon on 10/19, so perhaps we'll bring things online at about the same time. I was struck by your use of that Pelican case to store the station. I have an orange Pelican in the basement that is about the same size, and that I'll be fitting out for the same purpose. Very interested in the Outernet for missions work (education, health, economic empowerment) in the third world for our foundation. Further down the road will be the use of a geosynchronous sat package that may be launched as early as 2017. If you've an amateur radio license holder, then you know all about the ANSAT Phase 4 project. If not, it's a two way satcom package, riding on an Air Force contract satellite that will cover most of the America's. It will support ~1,000 separate data/voice channels, and have a 5+ year liife. The US government is purchasing 100 portable ground stations, so you can see that it has great support from the disaster assistance community. I just viewed a seminar on the progress, and the engineer ubergeek mentioned that they estimate a cost of $300 if you want to homebrew your own station. That's if you use the components that are available on Amazon/Ebay currently. Really looking forward to how your configure your Outernet case, as we seem to have the same package in progress, but mine is orange.

[Eric]

Sorry the reply I posted ages ago got deleted by accident. Was great talking to you Sir! It does seem we are indeed tracking a parallel path. The Outernet case is pretty much complete now with newly added L-Band downlink. Works like a champ! Chat soon.

Eric